Telefonica has reached an agreement to sell 11 of its data centres to investment fund Asterion for a total of EUR 550 million, confirming recent reports. The transaction covers 11 data centres with an installed service capacity of 29 MW located in Argentina (2), Brazil (2), Chile (1), Spain (2), Mexico (1), Peru (2) and the US (1) and also includes the signing of a long-term housing services agreement to the Telefonica Group, allowing the company to maintain its commercial offer. The operation does not include the sale of servers owned by Telefonica, or the management and access to customers hosted on them.
In a statement Telefonica said the transaction is expected to generate capital gains before taxes and controlling interests of around EUR 260 million. The deal means the operator will be able to continue offering its portfolio of services from a network of 23 data centres, including the 11 included in the sale. Telefonica expects the transaction to close in around two months, except for four data centres where the effective transfer is subject to several authorisations and administrative procedures.
The Spanish operator had announced in February that it was looking to sell up to 25 data centres based in Europe, the US and Latin America, as part of its efforts to reduce debt to less than EUR 40 billion.
